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CLASSICALLY LAMEclassical training doesn't necessarily make nonclassical music better. It merely means that a pop musician has better technical control of his instrument than most of his peers, though not as much as a true classical musician.

Furthermore, technique and pedagogical accomplishment don't necessarily make good music. It's Alicia Keys' overall creativity and musicality—more than her classical-piano chops—that sell her records. Bill Melin, a professor of music at Lafayette College, claims that some of the worst students in his electronic music class had "years of classical training" but were very limited in their ability to stretch beyond their experience. This was especially true of the pianists, who had very rigid ideas about what "music" is.